MediaWize

Last night, Jim Mallon informed City Council that we will proceed with the north end pump station project with an outfall basin at the end of Sixth Street. The $8.7 million drainage project aims to bring relief to thousands of residents affected by some of the worst flooding in Ocean City, and it takes advantage of a $5 million grant from FEMA.

Following several months of discussions with representatives of permitting agencies, including the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection administration, the state Green Acres program and the Division of Land Use Regulation and Coastal Regulation, the city has decided it is prudent to move forward with its north-end pump station project with the outfall located at Sixth Street, where it was originally proposed.

The summer trash and recycling collection schedule starts on Monday, June 13.

City Council unanimously approved a zoning ordinance Thursday night that bans hotels, motels and multi-family residences from having mechanical parking lifts in Ocean City's hospitality zone. Mayor Jay Gillian, who supported the measure, said mechanical lifts are a potential safety hazard. He also said he feared that parts of Ocean City would "look like New York," with cars stacked high up on parking lifts throughout the downtown area.

Reading never takes a vacation and the Ocean City Free Public Library is poised for its busiest time of the year. Once school is out and studying gives way to sun, sand and surf, the Library remains a central gathering spot and community resource. Year-round residents, second homeowners and family vacationers all take advantage of OC’s favorite stop for bookworms, audiophiles and video aficionados.

With a program designed to encourage designated drivers, the HERO Campaign launches further initiatives to help save lives.

Ocean City officials unveiled designs Wednesday for a new firehouse at 29th Street that will replace an antiquated and storm-battered station dating to the early 1950s. Construction on the estimated $1.6 million complex is expected to begin in September and be completed by May. Construction contracts are scheduled to be awarded by the city over the summer, according to William McLees, the project's architect.

Levi Fox is a man of many hats: actor, historian, entrepreneur, just to name a few. But his primary focus is on teaching. And his new business, Jersey Shore Tours, facilitates his main passion in the educational “off-season.” “I really, really enjoy teaching. And this business allows me to keep on teaching all summer long,” says the award-winning adjunct professor at Atlantic Cape Community College and Richard Stockton University.

Some homeowners have parking lifts to protect their cars from flooding, while the lodging industry and vacation properties use them to alleviate parking shortages for their guests. But it appears Ocean City's experiment with mechanical parking lifts is coming to an end less than three years after they were approved for homes and businesses in a downtown area known as the hospitality zone.

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